To that, and to everyone else in this topic, I would like to quote a statement I made in another topic which mentioned Balto sequels, if I may:
Astahov wrote:
About 5 little words. Well, last part was released in 2008 year. They forgot this franchise after milked all they could.
MY "five little words" refer to the fact that Universal Studios, which owns not only the
Balto franchise, but also the
Land Before Time franchise, milked the latter one to death. By doing no less than
twelve HIDEOUS direct-to-video sequels to what was a great original movie, they have utterly destroyed the
Land Before Time setting, characters and fandom. Each sequel was progressively more infantile, boring and stupid than the previous one. I couldn't watch more than one...I have only read reviews of the others, and they are consistently disastrous. NO ONE likes them or thinks they were a good idea. Thank goodness that Don Bluth, legendary former Disney animator who produced and directed the first movie, never had any involvement in those sequels...but how it must pain him to see what they had done with his story and his characters (the same can be said for his
Secret of NIMH movie...same situation. But that one only needed ONE horrendous and absolutely ridiculous sequel to kill the notion of more sequels. Perhaps MGM was a little smarter and cut the cord after the first disaster).
(I could link to a hilarious website which explains the Land Before Time sequels in a way that fits the general view of them. Unfortunately, it is laced with profanities and, well, that wouldn't last if I posted it here. But it is hilarious.)
The point? The
Balto franchise has had two sequels...both direct-to-video. The original Balto movie, just like the original
Land Before Time and the original
Secret of NIMH, was a theatrical release. Better production values and talent pool, better voice casting (usually), better time schedule to do voice tracks (and correct bad acting) and to do continuity and quality checks on art and animation, etc. I can't say I disliked
Balto 3, because I did actually like it. But, apart from a couple of minor aspects of
Balto 2 (Aniu, and seeing the puppies), I absolutely
hated that one. Is there a NEED for another sequel? Really? Or more than that? Especially if they are all going to be direct-to-video releases, which is the realm of cheap production values and lack of quality?
NO.
